Chapter 26

TRAX

I think I'm dead.

Or at the very least seriously fucking hungover. My arms and legs want to move but they won't. My head is so thick and fuzzy that I can't even open my eyes. I have no idea where I am or what the fuck is going on. Except, I think I hear Sophie talking, but she sounds very far away. So maybe I'm not dead.

At least not yet.

Sophie! I hear myself scream, but I know nothing is coming out of my mouth. Where the fuck am I? Where are my brothers? What the hell is going on? My mind is on such an overload that it can't take anymore and suddenly everything goes back to being black.

I don't know how long I'm out for when the sound on non-stop beeping wakes me up. What the hell is that? The voices I hear are muted so I can't make out what anyone is saying. It sure doesn't smell like the clubhouse. There's no odor of stale beer or cigarettes or even pussy. This smelled too clean like a disinfectant. Again, where the fuck am I?

Something is holding my hand down. It feels warm and soft, so I tightened my fingers around it.

"Holy shit, Sugar! He squeezed my hand. Daryl? Wake up, baby. Please wake up!"

"Bro, c'mon and wake the fuck up. I'm tired of your lazy ass being in this bed all day. Wake the fuck up, man."

Sophie and my fucking annoying as fuck brother.

My eyes feel lighter this time so I blink to force them open just a bit as the bright light from above hits me. Damn, that hurt my eyes so I close them again for a minute and then try again. It's not so bad the second time, but I try to raise my free hand since Sophie is hanging tightly onto one. The pain that shot through me had me gritting my teeth in order not to scream like a damn baby.

"Water," I growled through a parched throat. My eyes hit Sophie's tired-looking ones. She looked like shit but more beautiful than ever at the same time.

I felt Sophie squeeze my hand. "Oh my, God he's awake! Sugar get a nurse in here."

I saw a shadow lean over me. "She's a bossy bitch, ain't she?"

Sophie grabbed a pitcher and poured some water into a small cup before bringing it to my lips like a child. It pissed me off to be treated this way, but I was so weak I wasn't sure that I could even hold the damn cup anyway.

I took a few sips and let the wetness soothe my dry throat. "Not answering that one, bro." I groaned. "And I ain't lazy. What the hell happened?"

Damn, it hurt to even talk.

"We can tell you everything, but let's let the nurses know you're awake first." Sophie sent a deadly glare up at my brother.

He shook his head laughing. "I'm going. I'm going."

Before I had the energy to ask Sophie another question, two nurses hurried in with a doctor trailing behind them. They took my vitals again before the doctor checked me out. They had wanted Sophie and Sugar to wait outside of the room, but neither of them budged an inch. He asked a bunch of stupid ass questions like what year it was and who the fucking president. I answered the damn questions and was happy when the douche left.

I liked the one nurse. She was prettier and way younger than the other one. She asked if I was in pain and I sure as hell am, so she got a "fuck yeah" from me. I watched her leave and come back something that she put in my IV. Instantly, the edge was off. I still hurt, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

"How's that?" she asked with a big smile.

"Better."

"He's fine now," Sophie snapped. "We'll let you know if we need anything else. Thank you."

The nurse ignored Sophie and put her hand on my shoulder. "I'll be on the floor if you need me."

Merle and me watched her leave. She did have a cute ass.

Sophie squeezed my hand really hard. "Hey, what the fuck?" I said catching her fiery eyes.

"She's young enough to be your kid! Keep your eyes off her ass and you too, Sugar. Do you still want to know what happened or are you too busy scoping out new tail to even care anymore?" Sophie was pissed.

And that was hot.

Hit me in the only place that didn't hurt on my body. I was happy to see that my dick still worked since I wasn't sure how much else did.

My brother laughed at her which didn't help the situation. It was up to me to calm down my woman. Even though we had been together nearing a month now, it still sounded strange saying that in my head…my woman.

My bike, my club, my job, and my room all sounded normal. My woman…would still take some time to get used to saying that even though I wanted her more than I needed to breathe. I've turned into a total pussy when it came to her.

"Babe, no one's tail, including that young nurses, can match yours. I shouldn't have looked, but I'm a guy. It happens, but I'm sorry. Tell me what happened, please?" I threw out the "please" to help calm her down. It wasn't a word I often used at all. And she knew that.

I ignored the muffled "pussy" that came from my brother keeping my attention on Sophie. Her eyes softened and her grip on my hand became gentler. I could see she was about to speak and I stopped her. "Kiss me, Soph. I need you."

By the end of the kiss, the semi I had sported when she got jealous of the nurse became a full-fledged boner. Since I apparently wasn't wearing anything under the hospital gown they had me in, the sheet that covered me was sticking straight up.

"Brother! Fuck man, I don't need to see that."

All I could do was smile when Sophie pulled back from the kiss. "If a woman just kissed you the way Sophie just did me, you'd be hard as a fucking rock, too. It's not like I'm fucking her in this bed in front of you. Shit man, I have seen you fuck chicks too many times out in the open in the clubhouse. You're as bad as Blade, so shut up and tell me what the fuck happened that night? In fact, how long have I been here?"

"This is your sixth day."

I was shocked. Six days? I've been unconscious for that long? What the fuck was wrong with me? Now I was starting to get concerned. "What? I've been out for six days?" Pieces were beginning to come back to me. "Fucking hell, hang on. I remember the run. We were on our way home and someone started shooting at us."

"It was the Outlaw Knights," Sugar explained. "It was an ambush."

"How did they know we'd be there?"

Sugar moved from the end of the bed up to the side opposite Sophie. "Someone ratted us out."

"Who? Who the fuck was stupid enough to do that."

"Well…"

"Hold up, man. Soph, this is club business so can you give me and Sugar a minute?"

Instead of leaving, she put down the railing that was separating us and sat down on the edge of the bed. "There's no need for me to leave. I already know it all. Bear told me."

That threw me. Was she telling the truth? Why would the club president share that with an ol' lady? Club business was purposefully kept away from the ol' ladies.

Sugar must have seen the confusion on my face. "Truth, bro. Bear's kept her in the know of what's been going on. I didn't question the Prez and it helped me not to have to keep shit from her. What Code was able to figure out is that Lola called Gina, who is a dumb cunt. Lola played all friendly like and asked after the guys she knew. Said she missed the club. Gina told her that a couple of us were on a run to Nashville. Apparently, she overheard Mace and Colt talking about it that day. Gina didn't know that Lola had hooked up with the OK's and the traitorous cunt ran back to them with that information."

"I assume I got hit."

"In your shoulder and your back. Your shoulder will be fine once you heal. The other bullet did more damage but nothing that should affect you living your life. They took out your spleen as that was messed up causing a lot of internal bleeding. Then the bullet hit your intestine, and you lost a foot or so of that. That's why you have a big incision on your stomach." Sophie kept holding onto me as she explained everything. Her touch was so soothing that I never wanted her to let go.

I could feel the bandages on my belly and now they made sense. "Why was I out for so long?"

My girl smiled at me. It was slightly forced, and that got me worried. "Because your hard head isn't as hard as you thought it was. When you went down on your bike, your head hit the pavement. Even with the helmet…"

"Lid," Sugar interrupted.

"What?"

My brother rolled his eyes. "You called it a helmet. We call it a lid. It's a lid."

Now it was Sophie's turn to roll her eyes. "Even wearing the lid, you had a serious concussion. The doctor kept you in a medically induced coma for a couple of days to help you heal. After they took you off the medication, it was just waiting for you to finally wake up and then seeing if there was any damage from hitting your head. And I think you are doing great." Then she turned to my brother. "We need to text Bear that he's awake, Sugar."

"Can you do that for me, Sweet Cheeks?" Merle pulled out his wallet and handed her a couple of bucks. "Maybe grab me a cup of coffee while you're at it?"

Sophie laughed. "I get it. I'll text the club and let you two have a few minutes." She kissed me gently on the lips before getting off the bed. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

The second she was gone Sugar got right to it. "We went on lockdown right away. Code used Gina's phone to text Lola. He was able to get at a location from it when she answered him back. Bear had already put in a call to the Memphis and Birmingham chapters for backup. By the time they got here, we were ready. Last night we burned the OK's motherfucking clubhouse to the ground with most of the members in it. It was a big move, but we had no choice. Those motherfuckers are gone."

"Good." I clenched my good fist in anger. That club just couldn't let us both exist. It was their own damn fault that there is nothing left of them except ash.

"Everyone else is okay, right? Just my luck that they hit me."

I didn't like the look that came over Sugar's face. His eyes filled with sadness that I didn't want to understand. That meant only one thing. "Tell me, Merle. Who else got hit? One by one, count off the brothers."

"Me, Mace and Raven were fine. Brick was in the van and took out the assholes in the woods with an AK he was carrying with him. Diesel got shot in the leg and Ghost in his arm. Jet got shot twice in the leg and he had to go under the knife to get them out. They were too close to an artery or something. Blade's leg is fucked up because his bike landed on it. He's still here with screws and shit sticking out of it. It was fucking mangled when we pulled the bike off of him."

I was mentally doing an inventory of the guys in my head. There had been nine of us plus the prospect. There was one more guy. "What happened to Cue?"

My heart sunk when he looked away from me for a second before meeting my eyes. "He didn't make it, brother."

I let out a roar that I didn't even expect. Nurses came rushing in along with Sophie.

"He's okay. Just gave him bad news about a friend. That's all. We're good unless one of you sweet things would like to get friendly with ol' Sugar here. My brother ain't using his bathroom so… ah fuck, why do they always run away?"

Both nurses had run from the room. Fuck, he will never learn, will he?

"My God, Sugar. Could you be anymore more disgusting? Here's your coffee," Sophie said, shoving the to-go coffee cup into his hand. "Why don't you head back to the clubhouse? Bear said he'd be over in a little bit and Daryl could use some time to rest."

I was still processing the fact that Cue had died, and I wasn't in the mood for her to act like she knew what was best for me. She's my woman, not my damn mother. I was about to snap at her that I was just fine when I realized that I wasn't. My body still hurt. My head still hurt. And I was ready for a long nap like a two-year-old. Lucky for me, I caught myself before I started acting like a two-year-old, too.

"I think I will. Trax is awake, so all is good again. Catch you tomorrow, brother. I'll let you know if we get any new bang bunnies in tonight. Friday night is party night!" And with that Sugar was gone.

Sophie yelled after him. "He doesn't need those cheap whores anymore! He's got me."

She then turned to me and cocked her head. "I don't think that came out right."

It hurt to laugh but I couldn't help it.

"I'll take a nap in the chair and you rest up in bed," she said as she headed toward the corner with the recliner.

The chair had a blanket and pillow on it. I knew without even asking that's where she's been sleeping. Sophie was one perfect woman. "Oh, hell no. It'll be tight, but if you crawl in on my right side, I want you right here." She looked unsure of what to do. "I need you, babe. Please?"

And with that, I scooted as far I could to one side and she lay down with me in the hospital bed. "I love you, Daryl." Her voice was soft and loving.

I wanted to hear that for so long. I needed to hear that now. I knew it, but hearing those words that I've never heard in my whole life from anyone made this whole ball of shit that I've been through worth it. Then I said the same words back to her. Words I had never said to anyone before in my forty-one years. "I love you, too."

I was alive and in love. Even though my body hurt like hell, it was a damn good day.